This invention relates to safety shields or guards for machines, and more particularly to a safety shield specially adapted for use with vertical milling machines such as the well-known Bridgeport type machines.
While machine guards of various designs have been in use for many years, their importance has been increased by relatively recent developments such as the Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1970, which requires, for example, that one or more methods of guarding machines be provided to protect persons in the area from hazards such as rotating parts, splashing coolants and flying chips, and that guards be affixed to the machine.
Further, in addition to OSHA requirements and a moral obligation to protect operators, adequate machine shields and guards are necessary for reasons such as controlling costs of industrial insurance, protecting against judicial awards for industrial accidents, etc.
A main object of this invention is to provide a shield or guard that is particularly adapted for use with a machine tool, such as a Bridgeport vertical milling machine, having a rotatable spindle mounted in a non-rotatable quill.
Another object of the invention is to provide such a shield that is adapted to be secured to the quill, so as to be movable with the quill and thus be always positioned adjacent the spindle tool from which chips may fly, and coolant liquid may splash.
Another object of the invention is to provide such a shield that is easily and quickly secured to, and removed from, the quill.
A still further object of the invention is to provide such a shield that comprises a transparent main anchor panel and at least one transparent movable panel hingedly secured to the anchor panel.
A further object of the invention is to provide such a shield, wherein said anchor panel is formed with an opening therein, preferably near the center thereof, to receive the spindle and quill.
Still another object of the invention is to provide such a shield having means adjacent the anchor panel opening for removably securing the shield to the quill, with the plane of the anchor panel disposed normal to the quill axis, at any desired position along the quill axis and in any desired rotational (horizontal) position with respect to the quill.
Another object is to provide such a shield, wherein the movable panel is pivotable outwardly from a position approximately parallel to the spindle axis to a position above the plane of the anchor panel.
A still further object of the invention is to provide such a shield, wherein the pivotal connection of the panels has sufficient friction so that the movable panel will remain in any position to which it is moved.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent by reference to the attached specification and the accompanying drawings.